In the event that this subject is still read --I note the last date is 2006!

I use e16 all the time and wouldn't change, but I do miss a direct command line such as that given in kde by alt+f2. It means I must always open up a terminal if I want a command that is not in one of my menus (which I like to keep small)

I use e16 all the time and wouldn't change, but I do miss a direct command line such as that given in kde by alt+f2. It means I must always open up a terminal if I want a command that is not in one of my menus (which I like to keep small)

Emerge the epplets package. This will install a bunch of little epplet commands in /usr/bin. They all start with "E-". The one you want is E-Exec. If you regenerate your menus (Maintenance --> Regenerate Menus) then an "Epplets" menu should be created for you. You should copy bindings.cfg as suggested in the original post and then add (in the "Aclass KEYBINDINGS global" section) something like:

Code:

KeyDown A F2 exec E-Exec

Use "Restart" to put this new binding into effect. You will have to also remove the existing line that maps Alt-F2 to switching to desktop 1 (the 2nd desktop). Or you could change your E-Exec launcher to something like Ctrl-F2 instead of Alt-F2.

BTW: I emerged lxtask (a lightweight task manager) and added this line to bindings.cfg:

Code:

KeyDown C Escape exec lxtask

so Ctrl-Esc brings up a task manager (a la KDE).

Edit: If you use a theme other than "winter" then you will need to copy over some stuff from the winter theme to the theme you are using for epplets to work. Copy the epplets directory and then edit fonts.theme.cfg and imageclasses.cfg adding all the epplet lines from the same files from the winter theme. Before you go to this trouble, first just switch your theme to winter in order to test drive the epplets. I don't use them because they are miniscule on my high dpi screen. There's probably a way to enlarge them (probably in the config stuff that got copied over) but I haven't figured it out yet.

My thanks to BitJam. I had rather given up on the epplets, since being somewhat elderly my eyes are not what they were, and they are all so small I found it almost impossible to read the text on most of them.

I have another problem that I could do with some help on (I haven't found much help for e16 ons the web and it's various forums). I had the program 'basket' set up to autostart on logging in, but as there is no kde4 version and Gentoo no longer support it, I had to remove it from my system. E16, however still wants to autoload the program when I log in, and I can't find out how to prevent this. I have 'grepped' and 'grepped' all over the place to find out where e16 is told to load the program, but with no success. One would expect it to be under ~/.e16/Start but it isn't.

Any help on this would be appreciated, since I'm getting tired of having to press F1 to get rid of the error box that comes up every time I log in

In the "Settings" dialog there is a button on the left called "Remember". This will get you to a list of programs e16 is remembering. Each one has a checkbox on the left in a column marked "Delete". Just check the box for the program you want e16 to forget and then hit "OK".

The ~/.e16/{Start,Stop,Init} directories are for *user* scripts to be run when e16, starts (or restarts), stops, and when it starts up for the first time (Init). The e16 WM stores its "Remember" information in the file ~/.e16/e_config--0.0.snapshots (the 0.0 refers to the X-Windowse display). You should probably not edit this file when e16 is running.

You might want to take a look at the eesh program that is part of e16. It is a command line interface to e16. The commands "eesh help" "eesh help all" and eesh help full" will tell you all about it. I also suggest you:

In the sample scripts directory there are some cool scripts showing some of the power of eesh. In the docs directory is a copy of the e16 documentation in HTML format. If you've installed edox-data, this is the same information you get from the edox program but with readable fonts. The bouncingball.pl script requires the usleep program. My copy of usleep came from the splashutils package but it was buried in the /lib/splash/bin directory. I copied it from there to /usr/bin.

Someone should write "The Extended Guide to Enlightenment" ! I'm quite a fan of e16 because of the quality of the qraphics, menus on the mouse, and its simplicity, (I don't like a cluttered desktop). But most of the limited available information refers to E17, which is too complex for my tastes.

I am quite new to E16 which I would like to use as default wm, and I would like to know how to auto-start apps that work in the background (eg. xscreensaver) and cannot be started via their window menu ("Remember" option). Would it be possible to get an example of a startup file and to have a detailed process of the things to do. I have been searching for some time, but there is nothing about this at EtherDox or anywhere else. All the docs are mainly about E17 (which is just as plain as other DE or WM, with nothing special vs E16), so, meanwhile, I am using fluxbox as default wm...

I put my start up script(s) under the Init directory. These get run when e16 starts up. The scripts under the Start directory get run more frequently. For example, they run when e16 is "restarted" (via the Restart menu entry). Scripts that end in .sh are run in the foreground, in other words e16 waits for them to finish before it continues. All other scripts are run in the background. You can take a look at /usr/share/e16/scripts/session.sh which is the script the calls your scripts.

If you try to use the eesh program (which gives you command line access to the e16 IPC) in a script that runs in the foreground then e16 will lockup. I wrote my own logout script that allows you to use eesh inside of scripts that are run in the foreground. Here is the script in case it is of interest for you.

I did not imagine that would be so complex. So I guess some notions about shell scripting are required??? ''
I'm afraid I don't have any, but I will not give up yet... So I'm going to look further into this...

Replace $EDIT with the name of the editor you like to use. Here is what the startup file should look like:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

xscreensaver &

That's it. You can add other programs you want to start. Just put the commands in like you would type them on the command line and then put an & at the end of the line. You can test the script by running it from the command line:

What drives do you need to unmount? I use the pcmanfm file manager as my file manager and to mount/unmount removable usb drives. I believe the newest version can also be used to mount/umount all partitions.

You can try wicd for wireless. It is lightweight and easy to use. It may not work, but if it does, it is a good solution.

I intend to use E16 on my netbook - and probably on my oooold desktop pc - so I just need the basics. I know, it would be easier to use Gnome (slow) or lxde or something like Linux Mint Fluxbox CE with everything already set up, but...

For the network,I would like something like the Gnome applet so that I could shutdown wifi or network when necessary with only one click. Same thing for bluetooth.

I also like to have some applet that handles power management (battery and screen), though I don't really need much advanced options as I scarcely use anything else than the standard shutdown dialog in E16.

As for mounting drives --> usb external harddrives, usb keys, external dvd burner, local dvd drive.. . I have tried Thunar daemon (seems to conflicts with E16 epplet (E-Mount something???)) seems to work fine although I have to do some tuning to use other apps than the defaults.

For managing the sound I find E-Mixer epplet a little limited... compared with aumix or any other - but I think I will stick to it.

In fact, I would like to have those apps running from and sit in e16 systray...

@Walter, I just installed wicd. I had the gtk USE flag enabled and it installed a wicd-gtk client. I followed the wicd instructions, shut-down all net.* services except net.lo and added them to to RC_PLUG_SERVICES in /etc/conf.d/rc:

Code:

RC_PLUG_SERVICES="!net.eth0"

(I only had net.eth0).

I started up the wicd service:

Code:

# /etc/init.d/wicd start

It gave me an error message the first time I started it so I stopped it and started it again, this time without error.

I then ran the wicd-gtk client (wicd-client seems to do the same thing). It put an icon in the system tray in my lxpanel. I suggest using lxpanel (or some other app with a system tray) even if you only use it for the system tray. I found the e16 tray to be slightly unreliable. A mouse-hover over the icon lists current connections. A right-click on the icon gives me a tiny menu that allows me to connect disconnected networks (but not disconnect connected ones). If I left-click on the icon, a window pops up that lets me disconnect and connect networks and allows me to set preferences.

Connecting or disconnecting a network takes a total of two clicks. I thought this is what you were looking for.

Absolutely, but I am afraid I did not look closely enough on that one, so I will be trying again. The icon showed up in e16 systray though. In fact I would like to try to shutdown the wifi device, not only disconnect from wifi, I'm not sure wicd can do it. Will check...

I choose kmix as volume control for it seems to work fine - shows up in systray, works with 'fn' keys , easy access to mixer - though it may not be the best choice. I also tried 'volumeicon', works fine too.

I have tried 'xfce4-power-manager' - works when lid is closed and reopened (but i just discovered that xscreensaver does that too). Is there any risk of conflict between the two? One drawback though, no icon in the systray.

[EDIT]
Ooops...
I have added "thunar --daemon &" [and not 'thunar-volman &] to the startup file in Init. Works fine, with pop(up messages when umounting or ejecting drives (usb, cd).

@BitJam, I finally settled for nm-applet from the network-manager pkg, and it works fine out of the box! Now, I just have to find something similar for tthe bluetooth and finally I will be able to use E16 as my main WM... Unless something else is missing???

NB: All these work fine in Fluxbox too (and I guess in all *box wm (not checked)).

The Gentoo Bluetooth Guide seems to suggest that you go with Gnome Bluetooth The other option was KDE based. You probably have most of the gnome dependencies installed (for nm-applet, if nothing else).

I stated earlier that kde4 had removed the "basket" program. I note now that it has been reinstated within kde4. I have found it to be useful with e16, since it can be autostarted and tucked away in the system tray. Web pages and programs can be started from it.

I've copied /usr/share/e16/config/bindings.cfg to ~/.e16 so I can create custom key and mouse bindings. I also heavily customize my menus and my Init/Start/Stop files. I added the following entries to my desktop menu to make it easy to change any/all of the above:

The Gentoo Bluetooth Guide seems to suggest that you go with Gnome Bluetooth The other option was KDE based. You probably have most of the gnome dependencies installed (for nm-applet, if nothing else).

Hi BitJam!

I'm sorry for this very very late answer. I followed your suggestions and everything works fine now.

I wanted to thank you for your time and very precious help.

Regards.

[edit] I have gathered all your instructions in a single sort of "Howto" while I was testing them. With your permission I may post it or make it public if it is of any interest unless this is already done (probably). Please let me know...

I have gathered all your instructions in a single sort of "Howto" while I was testing them. With your permission I may post it or make it public if it is of any interest unless this is already done (probably). Please let me know...